Season Wrap Up Part 1 of 3: The Corey Lowe Situation

The BU Terriers season was probably one of the more eventful and dramatic in recent history.  Before the season began it looked like BU was poised to to make it's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2002. However, BU returned 9 seniors all Dennis Wolff recruits, but did not return their head coach and commandant Dennis Wolff.  Before the season, in an unexcpected move to shake things up, BU got rid of their most winningest coach and hired the associate head coach for the Villanova Wildcats, Patrick Chambers.  In his first year as a head coach of any team, he took over a very experienced and talented squad that his predecessor almost entirely constructed.  So many story lines, so many moments, what a season the Terriers had.  In the last  three games they beat Oregon State, they lost Corey Lowe, the third highest scorer in BU history, beat Morehead state in overtime and lost to Virginia Commonewelath in the CBI semifianls, what a dramatic end to a very fulfilling and eventful season . As fans we can only hope that the Terriers put out an even better product to play under The Roof and within the walls of Agganis Arena in the years to come.

The Corey Lowe Situation
I think this came as a shock to everyone who was BU fan.  After BU slaughtered Oregon State in the first round of the CBI, Corey Lowe unexpectedly left he team before the Morehaead State game.  I didn't learn about this until the Morehaead State game,  And I like a lot of other fan discovered this when I went to the Morehead Sate game on Monday.  I watched the game, and I saw a lot fo our stars from this year out there but within almost five minutes I noticed Corey Lowe wasn't on the floor and he wasn't on the bench.  He could've been in the stands but I didnd't see him the entire night, where was he? My first thought was that something happened to either him or his family, I was concenred.  I learned after the game that he "moved onto the next chapter of his life."

I really wasn't sure what this meant at first.  Why would the third highest scorer in BU history (that is 101 years of BU Basketball) just leave unexpectedly? In the coming days it became apparent that the "next chapter" meant playing pro ball in Europe.  Still, why leave the team?  You are one of the best players in BU history (again that's 101 years of BU basketball).  Pat Chambers (for all purposes of my upcoming theory we will give him the benefit of the doubt) said that everyone involved with the team supported Corey's decision to leave.

So my theory is this.  Corey was not expecting to play this far into the postseason.  He didn't know what his chances were of playing on a professional level. As an NCAA player he is not allowed to receive advice from scouts or agents about going pro. Corey was anxious and he knew that if he got injured in the the final games of his at BU it would severely hurt his chances of a pro career.  What did Corey do, he hired an agent but kept it quiet, he wanted to see out his last games in a BU uniform but wanted to get advice about his future.  In a sense Corey wasn't thinking about the present he was thinking about the future. 

On the plane ride back to Boston from Oregon State, Corey approaches coach Chambers who is studying the scouting report for Morehaed Stat (wishful thinking Coach Chambers probably didn't have a scouting report printed out yet, but I like to thnk that my team's coach had a scouting report in his hand withing minutes of knowing who his next opponent would be).  When he speaks to Coach Chambers he explains that he is already thinking about a pro career but he would like to remain with the team. Chambers gets suspicious and eventually finds out that Corey has in fact hired an agent. Chambers and Lowe go back and forth for about 15 minutes.  Lowe wants to remain with the team but wants to have a limited role.  Chambers says no, he either plays with a full role or not at all.  Also, he says to Lowe, "if you have already hired an agent, maybe it's best if you stayed away from the team, we don't want to have any future sanctions against us."

Corey was BU's third highest scorer (the third time I've said this), he just got a little too anxious.  I guarantee if BU was one and done in the NCAA tournament that this would not even be as big of a story as it is.  I cannot fault Corey and I cannot fault Coach Chambers. They were both looking out for their best interests.  However, Corey's best interests may have been slightly selfish and Chambers's best interest were all about the team.  I'm disappointed in Corey but I'm not one to hold a grudge for long.  Corey's career is going to be defined by what he did in four years not what happened in the last week.

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In the next two parts of my season wrap up:

• BU beats Morehead State at The Roof .
• BU is defeated by VCU.

Also to come in the offseason a recap of the year and a preview of next.

The 2010 CBI Invitational: BU beats Oregon St. and Morehead State

I have not kept this blog completely updated in the last week, and a lot of stuff has happened in Terrier Nation.  BU has won not one but two CBI games and advances to the semis and of couse the "Curious Case of Corey Lowe."  I plan to make up for lost time right now.

3/17 - BU vs. Oregon State - Gill Colliseum - BU wins 96 - 68.
I did not get to listen to a lot of this game, I was watching something on TV this particular night.  But from the looks and sound of it, I did not miss that much.  The best thing about this game was that a BU win meant that there would be at least one more game at Case Gymnasium this season.

Other stuff:

• Th score.  BU scored a season high number of points versus a BCS conference team.  A mediocre one at best, but I still think it's somehting to get a little excited about.
• John Holland led the team with 26 pints.  Remember the America East's leading scorer is only a Junior, we still have another year of the JH show.
• Senior Carlos Strong only needed one more postseason game to top the 1,000 points mark.

3/22 - BU v. Morehead State - Case Gym - BU wins 91 - 89.
On the Sunday before this game I got the following email from a friend of mine:

• "I think Kulp's fantasy just came true. Soul Fire BBQ is offering all you can eat wings for $9 Monday nights from 5-10pm (see below)"

Perfect, I thought to myself.  We can go to the game and after it ends we can go to Soulfire for a bunch of wings, the perfect way to spend my Monday.  I dropped a few hints, I asked if anyone wanted to go to the game, all of my attempts were futile.  As long as BU Basketball is not ranked and they  are in the America East no one, even my friends who are BU alumni are not going to want to go to see BU play Baskeball, next year I probably won't even bother trying to recruit people.

During the game, I was hoping for a blow out or early ending so I could meet up with my friends in time to enjoy the all you can eat wings. When BU had three chances to put it away in the final 30 seconds of the game with the scored tied, I was honestly thinking "damn you Jake O'Brien, you don't want me to have $9 all you can eat wings do you."  There's always next week, $9 all you can eat wings...

The Game
Because I had some guests the night before and they trashed my place, I had to go home first to vcean up my place before going to the game.  As a result, I didn't make it to the game until ten minutes into the first half and just caught the tail end of BU's comeback. 

The game as a whole was really good from beginning to end.  The thing that excited me most was the crowd; the biggest student crowd I have seen all season.  Rightfully so, this was BU's first ever home postseason game (excluding the America East Tournament final). I am going to add some photos and videos later. 

In the second half, it looked like BU was going to run awaya with it.  But in true Terriers fashion they let their opponent hit a few threes and get right back into the game.  The Terriers had real troubles with Morehead State's fullcourt press. The Terriers led by 11, then by 4, then it was tied and before you know the game was in OT. The Terriers scored the first five points in OT and never looked back.  The advance to the Semis.

Good Stuff:

• Carlos Strong was on fire from three point range.
• Jake O'Brien and John Holland are going to be a great core for next year's team, behing Strong they were the team's other two highest scorers.

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Wait...BU's season isn't over?

That's right after losing to Vermont in the America East final, the Terriers travel to Corvallis Oregon to take on the the Oregon State Beavers in the first round of the CBI Tournament. Tipoff is tonight at 10 PM Eastern.  Not sure you can watch it on TV but I'm pretty sure you'll be able to listen as always on 1510 the zone. Here is the preview on the BU website.

My first impression of this game was indifferent.  Over the weekend I was disappointed about our loss to Vermont in the final, but not I've come to recognize that this was s successful and great season for the BU Basketball team and the 9 seniors have worked hard and they deserve to play some postseason basketball.  It's not the NCAA or the NIT but it's something.  A win versus a Pac-10 team would be cool.

Over the past few days the one thing I have been thinking about this game is if President Obama will be listening or watching or following.  For those who don't know the coach for Oregon State, Craig Robinson, is Michelle Obama's older brother and brother in law to our country's leader and chief.  If he is listening tonight at 10, I wonder where and if he yells at the radio like I do.  As a player on the Oregon State team or one of the teams that plays Oregon State I think it would be pretty cool knowing that the President of our country could be listening or watching.  He actually showed up to a game when Oregon State visited George Washington earlier this year.

That brings me to my next point, I looked at both teams schedules.  The two teams only had one common opponent this year, the same George Washington.   Oregon state beat them by a narrow margin, whereas BU lost to them in a relatively close contest.  That's the only real comparison I have. 

Also taking a look at Oregon State's roster, there did not appear to be any stars on their team their highest scoring averaged just over 12 points per game, and the rest would spread out pretty evenly with a few players just averaging in the single digits.

Bottomline, if BU plays well on defense, they should be able to score enough to make this a competitve game.  That's the cool thing about these postseason turnaments that are not the NCAA, usually they include a mediocre or bad major conference teams and really good mid-major teams that have legitimate shots to beat their Major conference opponents. What the major conference opponents take for granted, the mid-major teams will capitalize on, just ask UConn who narrowly beat Northeastern last night and UNC who narrowly beat William and Mary.

Prediction: BU bearly edges out the Beavers, the Terriers may not be as talented but they have the will to win no matter what tournament they are in. Final score 65 - 62.

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